R7 ideas for birds in flight and in low light situations (1 Viewer)

[kwikstaart]

I have my R7 with RF 100-400 now for about 5 weeks and every owner will confirm that it's a bargain in terms of AF, picture quality, battery life, weight, ease of use etc. Most of the pictures I see on BF are excellent but .... they should be: individual birds closer by, bigger raptors in flight.
Even after viewing as much as possible settings- video's on YT I still have troubles to make sharp pictures of smaller birds in flight, BIF against busy background and small birds in darker woods.
Although I am very happy with my combo and it's a real step up from the 7D2 I hope others have better experiences and suggestions.
I know the mentioned troubles are the more difficult situations but myself and 2 other owners I know just think it should perform a little better.

 

[WimDel]

Hi, I have the R7 with the 100-500mm. I have experimented a lot with settings to get the most out of the camera, and this is what works best for me at the moment:

I have set up back button focus and have split the AF into three cases:

- the AF-ON button is assigned to servo AF with tracking on and animal detection on, but eye detection off. A user of the Fred Miranda forum advised to turn off eye detection for far away bif as it uses more unnecessary processing power and he had more keepers this way. I use full zone and the smallest zone rectangle, depending on the kind of bif (small zone for far away birds; I point the rectangle on the bif and wait until the white tracking square picks it up. Full zone for small erratic bif like swallows)

- the *- button is assigned to servo AF with spot focus, tracking off, animal detection off, eye detection off. This is for small birds in trees etc.

- the DOF-button (on the front of the camera) is assigned to eye AF, I only use it when the birds are close enough for the system to detect the eyes.

I also use electronic full-time manual focus to prefocus on a distant bird/bif so that the system can pick it up more easily.

I set lens drive when AF is impossible to off, so that when the system loses track of a distant bif it does not throw the lens completely out of focus. In this way you still have a chance to follow the bird and adjust the focus manually if it is too far away to be picked up by the AF system.

Hope this helps

 

[kwikstaart]

Hi, I have the R7 with the 100-500mm. I have experimented a lot with settings to get the most out of the camera, and this is what works best for me at the moment:

I have set up back button focus and have split the AF into three cases:

- the AF-ON button is assigned to servo AF with tracking on and animal detection on, but eye detection off. A user of the Fred Miranda forum advised to turn off eye detection for far away bif as it uses more unnecessary processing power and he had more keepers this way. I use full zone and the smallest zone rectangle, depending on the kind of bif (small zone for far away birds; I point the rectangle on the bif and wait until the white tracking square picks it up. Full zone for small erratic bif like swallows)

- the *- button is assigned to servo AF with spot focus, tracking off, animal detection off, eye detection off. This is for small birds in trees etc.

- the DOF-button (on the front of the camera) is assigned to eye AF, I only use it when the birds are close enough for the system to detect the eyes.

I also use electronic full-time manual focus to prefocus on a distant bird/bif so that the system can pick it up more easily.

I set lens drive when AF is impossible to off, so that when the system loses track of a distant bif it does not throw the lens completely out of focus. In this way you still have a chance to follow the bird and adjust the focus manually if it is too far away to be picked up by the AF system.

Hope this helps

Wow, a lot to try! Thanks a lot!

 

[timmyjones]

Any update on how you've found the R7 and RF 100-400 lens for BIF?